As special counsel Robert Mueller builds his case, relatives of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn are among those pressing the president to use his unique legal power and ‘put these defendants out of their misery.’

The great ‘Made in Britain’ delusion

The U.K.’s ambition to chart its own course as a trade champion outside the EU is facing a brutal reality check: Not enough of its exports are actually “Made in Britain.”

After Brexit, Britain’s big hope has been that it can simply “roll over” the EU’s trade agreements with countries around the world like South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. That would mean that the text of the Brussels-Ottawa agreement, for example, would simply be copy and pasted as the new Britain-Canada deal.

There is a problem, however. These deals set tough requirements on where goods are produced to qualify for low tariffs. These “rules of origin” are meant to stop Vietnam, for example, simply re-exporting cheap Chinese goods into the EU. The rules lock in how much of the value of the product must be created locally, adding up all the components, raw materials and know-how.

Cars are a classic example of where Britain is in trouble. British vehicles contain only approximately 44 percent U.K. content, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has said, while the average rules-of-origin level in EU trade deals is 55 percent for cars.

“If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the U.K. — not Japanese only — no private company can continue operations” — Koji Tsuruoka, Japanese ambassador to the U.K.

That means U.K.-built cars would not qualify under rolled-over trade deals and would face high tariffs.

“We have a fundamental problem here,” said Peter Holmes, a member of the U.K. Trade Policy Observatory. “The government is just slowly beginning to understand that we can’t just roll over these trade deals,” he added, shortly after having briefed the Department of International Trade on the issue.

As a stop-gap measure, the U.K. government is warming to the idea of staying in EU trade accords during a transition period — which could continue until 2021 or longer. One of the reasons for this change of heart is the challenge posed by rules of origin.

A spokesperson for Britain’s trade department said it was “in discussions with our trading partners about transitioning those trade agreements … to ensure that businesses continue to operate, as much as possible, through their established value and supply chains.”

One-sided trade

Revealingly, EU trade partners like Canada and Japan are signaling a willingness to roll over the terms of their deals with the U.K. post Brexit. This is hardly out of the goodness of their hearts. They realize that they would be able to export tariff-free to the U.K. under those terms, while Britain would fall foul of rules of origin requirements.

“It’s not surprising when third countries tell the U.K. that they are happy to copy and paste EU trade deals,” said a European diplomat close to the Brexit talks. “It’s very smart for them because they keep their market access … [while] U.K. companies would struggle to fulfill rules of origin requirements for their exports.”

This is a problem for the closely interconnected supply chains that many British companies — from carmakers to the aerospace sector — have with other EU countries, which have so far benefited from frictionless trade inside the single market.

“We’re concerned at the possibility that companies which have a footprint in the EU and U.K. could find it more difficult to sell their products on world markets,” said Glenn Vaughan, chief executive of the British Chamber of Commerce in Brussels.

In consequence, British manufacturers could be forced to import fewer parts from abroad, even though the foreign components would often be cheaper and of higher quality.

This risks a knock-on effect on foreign investment if exporters from the U.K. hit a wall because of rules of origin. For Japanese investors, this is a particular concern, as large manufacturers such as Honda and Nissan use the U.K. as their main European production center.

Japanese car manufacturer Nissan uses the U.K. as its main European production center | Scott Heppell/AFP via Getty Images

“If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the U.K. — not Japanese only — no private company can continue operations,” Koji Tsuruoka, the Japanese ambassador to the U.K., said in a strong warning last Thursday. “It is as simple as that.”

A cumulative solution

Against this backdrop, Britain’s best hope is that it can agree with its trade partners (and Brussels) a system called “cumulated rules of origins,” said Samuel Lowe, a trade expert at the Center for European Reform.

Under this model, European content would also qualify as originating from Britain — and vice-versa. Put simply, the German components in a British car would still count.

However, this kind of mutual recognition scheme needs three parties to agree. If the EU and U.K. agree on cumulation, any third party seeking a trade deal with Brussels would need to agree to those provisions separately in any deal.

“There’s not much incentive for the EU to help Britain here” — Samuel Lowe, trade expert at the Center for European Reform

So far, very few trade deals provide for an effective cumulation of rules of origin: The EU-Japan deal is one of the few examples — but it has major limitations. Cars, for example, which are made out of many different components, can’t benefit from the cumulation, an EU official explained.

Other trade partners like the Mercosur bloc, which is already trying to enforce tough rules of origin toward the EU to stop European carmakers from steamrollering the South American market, have little interest in accepting such a cumulation in key industrial sectors.

This means Britain faces an uphill battle in bringing around third countries. “To allow cumulated rules of origins with, for example, South Korea, not only Britain but also the EU would need to negotiate with Seoul,” said Lowe. Every renegotiation comes with a cost, such as counter-demands from the other side, he warned. To reopen the EU’s numerous trade deals would be lengthy and costly.

“There’s not much incentive for the EU to help Britain here,” Lowe said.

tpk

UK will just thrive due to the new and shiny FTAs… ah, and hard to blame this one on EU, bot someone will manage.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 6:11 AM CET

Guy

Hold on – wasn’t it Honda or Nissan themselves that announced last year that they would increase the supply of parts from the UK ? And reduce imported components

I seem to remember this was in response to the threat from our “freinds” across the channel of tariffs which would obviously hit parts.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 7:05 AM CET

Anthony Chambers

Meanwhile in the real world UK suppliers to the EU are moving their sales to the UK and EU suppliers to the UK are moving their sales to the EU. Resulting in domestic car content levels approaching 80%.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 7:10 AM CET

Petter B.

I suppose this means the UK is having to start making car parts (and other products) domestically in stead of importing it all. That will be good news to a lot of semi/low skilled workers (a number of whom incidentally voted for Brexit).

On of the effects of the EU economy is nation-wide specialization. The UK downgraded much of its industrial capacity under after joining the EU, but increased its banking sector dramatically. I mean, when was the last time any of us saw something “made in the UK” in the shops, apart from a few items of specialized food? Life outside the EU will force a more diverse economy.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 7:43 AM CET

Zware

Seems like we have the U.K. by the short and curlies….

Posted on 2/15/18 | 7:44 AM CET

Anthony Chambers

@Petter B: they don’t need to start. They have been doing it for years.

The prices for these goods are set by the EU external tariff. Obviously the biggest producer with the best prices tends to be China. So the companies balance the requirement to have a certain percentage of domestic cost content with cost pressures.

These are capitalist companies, there will be 30 or 40 competing suppliers for every component. They will even use different sources of the same design of component so that they can have different content mixes for different target markets.

Business is always far more agile than politicians at dealing with trade restrictions.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 7:52 AM CET

Saintixe

This said, who cares about components being EU or UK. Not the prospective buyer.
The buyer wants good quality cars and I do not see that many Vauxhall Jaguar ( due to price) and other British stamped cars selling abroad.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:03 AM CET

Milton38

It is clear that the proponents of Brexit, and I am one of them, did foresee this. Or not?
I was always under the impression that we can export tons of cheddar and millions of glasses of Little Red Scarlets, barrels of Whisky and shiploads of Adele records.
We will do very well indeed.
Poor Nigel Farage will be send to the EU Parliament as overseer and will be allowed to play in the market square to top up his salary.
Boris Johnson will make the ambassadorial rounds with a few doggie bags in his pockets.
Good times are upon us.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:21 AM CET

Anthony Chambers

@Saintixe: the uk is currently a net exporter of cars.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:22 AM CET

Anthony Chambers

@Saintixe: but let’s not let fact get in the way of pregudice.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:24 AM CET

Drunker

Have all eurotrolls clocked-in for work yet ?(Priscilla, you never let me down)

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:30 AM CET

wow

Japan will not copy/paste eu deal: FAKE NEWS

REAL NEWS from a REPUTABLE source:

Theresa May secures Japanese pledge on post-Brexit trade deal …GUARDIAN
31 Aug 2017 – Leaders announce in Tokyo that two countries will seek to instantly replace EU trade deal with a copycat deal for UK.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:40 AM CET

wow

Fake news

Canada already confirmed copy/paste ceta: from horses mouth:

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:42 AM CET

wow

‘you’ll never get anybody as good as the us!’

Par of the course. Everybody knows.

TRololololllllllllllllllllll.

It’s tragic for the EU it really is!!!

Cheerio Now

**waves**

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:55 AM CET

edel

Brexiteers, at least those posting don’t care. They have a holistic approach (not that there is a problem with that) in that UK will be a full service exporter instead; they have Singapore as the example to imitate.

There are big flaws in that thought though. Singapore is a city that built itself based on three competitive advantages in Asia. May intends to follow them to:

1) Singapore is the bridge between the west and China, culturally and financially. However the UK won’t have the appeal since there are enough English speakers in continental Europe and the EU has transparent institutions unlike China. The US, Brazil or Japan do not need a trustful intermediary to handle business with an EU as they did with China.

2) Lowest corporate taxes. A large country like the UK with disproportionately large debt and already diminishing middle class simply cannot afford a dramatically corporate tax reduction, the people that would had to pick up the tab with less services or higher taxes simply will not tolerate it. Besides, unemployment and lack of foreign capital is not UK’s mayor concern, at least not now. But even if UK could impose a far lower corporate tax than its current already low 19% (and convince investors it will sustain it), the appeal will be much lower than many expect; many EU countries have already very low ones like Estonia and Latvia with 0% or Croatia and Romania on the 10%, Ireland and Lichtenstein 12.5%, etc.

3) Services country. Here is a complex topic. UK is a services country already, May claims it will be even more. First, services don’t work as products, UK already is maximizing on how services it can be…tariffs and Brussels applies little here. Another misconception is to think a large diverse country can be all financial institutions and consultancies; large countries need a competitive industrial sector in their ecosystem or tons of wealth in a particular sector to compensate. The communities that voted brexit will be the ones who more suffer on that vision of focusing on services only.

Brexiteers also dream of creating the British brand and sell on that. Like with services, Brussels had no much of a say on that so it is already maximized and exploited to its capacity; it is up to the private sector, not the government, to develop this area.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:56 AM CET

wow

@prisclla too dim

what does that have to do with copying an FTA.

Gosh why are you so D I M.

You are as useful as broken lamppost.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:57 AM CET

wow

@edel

flaws in the EU, flaws in the world, everywhere flaws…

let’s all just hide under a bed and never move or do anything.

Doesn’t work on the UK public I’m afraid.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:58 AM CET

wow

@priscilla queen of the desert.

Nobody has said the FTA is now not happening. Post a link confirming this IN THOSE EXACT WORDS or stop spreading fake news.

….and ‘honey’ we know you’re a man doing a some weird parody of what you think a ‘woman’ behaves/talks like – but you sound like a hooker darrrliing!

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:27 AM CET

Josephine

Of interest, how will the same rules affect EU exports?

As stated there is an interconnected web of manufacturing, and many EU exporters use UK components. Using the example given, motor cars, all Volkswagen W12 engines are manufactured in the UK. Taking the engine along with other accessories, will the final vehicle meet the 55% criteria?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:37 AM CET

Alex T

@Saintixe

“The buyer wants good quality cars and I do not see that many Vauxhall Jaguar ( due to price) and other British stamped cars selling abroad.”

Down here in Nice on the Côte d’Azur, where we spend the winter months, one sees plenty of Range Rovers with French registration plates. They appear to be very popular. One also sees some Jaguars. One also sees anAston Martin now and then, including the brand new DB11, but being very expensive the Astons usually have reg. plates of the far wealthier Monaco.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:39 AM CET

wow

@priscilla queen of the desert

yes go back to trolling me with fake video and the like..

you cannot win a argument straight on I wipe the floor with you. It is better for you not to engage with me head on ‘darrrlllling’!

Now run along. You really do sound like a hooker ‘honey’.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:42 AM CET

wow

@fakewow = @priscilla

Yes a man who sounds like a hooker. You’ve go it! Glad we all understand each other ‘honey’.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:44 AM CET

xyc

Saintixe

This said, who cares about components being EU or UK. Not the prospective buyer.
The buyer wants good quality cars and I do not see that many Vauxhall Jaguar ( due to price) and other British stamped cars selling abroad.

You know Vauxhall is now (Peugeot) PSA owned, right? They will market Opel abroad not Vauxhall.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:44 AM CET

HH

@Priscilla Bleu

Haven’t you left yet for the new blog you’re setting up? HURRY UP AND GO!

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:45 AM CET

wow

@priscilla too DIM

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:48 AM CET

Alex T

@Priscilla

“Jaguar Range Rover is owned by indian TATA motors. Since 2008.”

Mercedes Benz is majority owned by Qatar and other foreign investors. Look it up.

(in spite of that they still produce unreliable overpriced cars)

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:49 AM CET

wow

Priscilla lost an argument *again* today, as he does everyday… and he is having a trolling video/fake user hissy hit *again* as he does everyday.

It’s tiresome, but he should be going soon.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:55 AM CET

JTW

This article is incorrect when it says ‘very few trade deals provide for an effective cumulation of rules of origin’. Under the Pan-euro-med system, all countries can use cumulation- and this covers most of the EU’s key trade partners. It is also the case that the average rule is 60% not 55% for finished cars.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 10:15 AM CET

wow

@Priscilla

poor thing.

webdesigner = statistics say impossible he will be an upper class female.

statistics show: lower middle class male.

Now run along, you will get the sack if you keep messing about when you should be working.

Oh and thanks for the laugh (you’re having a video conference call with the USA today)… we all knew it wouldn’t be one with anyone in the rubbish EU27!!

cheers haha.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 10:15 AM CET

wow

@fake wow

Did you lose an argument again ‘honey’

didums.

🙁

It’s hard being an adults isn’t it? You’ll find out one day, when you grow up.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 10:18 AM CET

wow

@tpk

If you want a blog google ‘give me on of those free blog thingys’ and within 10 minutes you’ll have a fully functioning blog.

A 9 year old can (literally) ‘make a blog’ quicker than @priscilla too DIM.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 10:27 AM CET

dusty

Does this mean I have to buy my nice shiny Airbus 380 from the French,the pop off to Wales to buy the wings.sod this for a game of soldiers I am off to Boeing problem solved

Posted on 2/15/18 | 10:39 AM CET

xyc

@JTW Re “- This article is incorrect when it says ‘very few trade deals provide for an effective cumulation of rules of origin’. Under the Pan-euro-med system, all countries can use cumulation- and this covers most of the EU’s key trade partners.”

How does that make the article incorrect? Like you, the article stated that cumulation of roi can used, but simply argued that it has rarely been done very effectively.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 11:02 AM CET

bandib

@ wow
From your comments here I can only conclude that the euphoria of brexit has completely unhinged you.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 11:39 AM CET

Priscilla du Bleu

Life in Britain is ‘rosey’. :-D.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 11:54 AM CET

Aus Friedrichshain

Es wird ei en tollen trade deal geben – fuer die EU27

Posted on 2/15/18 | 12:30 PM CET

Bob

Am I the only one who thinks that the EU27’s positions in the Brexit negotiations bespeak a certain fragility at the core of the EU, which is first and foremost a protectionist trade bloc?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 12:33 PM CET

bluebell

@Petter B.
“I suppose this means the UK is having to start making car parts (and other products) domestically in stead of importing it all. That will be good news to a lot of semi/low skilled workers (a number of whom incidentally voted for Brexit).

On of the effects of the EU economy is nation-wide specialization. The UK downgraded much of its industrial capacity under after joining the EU, but increased its banking sector dramatically. I mean, when was the last time any of us saw something “made in the UK” in the shops, apart from a few items of specialized food? Life outside the EU will force a more diverse economy.”

I doubt there will be much low value engineering production such as cars, washing machines etc but there may be a ramping up of the high end stuff and expansion into new technology – especially if tightfisted Phil can be coerced into development funding and tax relief for sectors such as this.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 12:42 PM CET

Finn

@Bob
Am I the only one who thinks that the EU27’s positions in the Brexit negotiations bespeak a certain fragility at the core of the EU, which is first and foremost a protectionist trade bloc?

Yes you are. Protectionist trade bloc – like the FORMER commonwealth then? Worked for you a long time ago. Will work for the EU in the future.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 12:54 PM CET

XKM

is the sad brexitear trying to create a parallel universe by spaming this discussion board to ad nauseum. Mate, reality is what it is, your denial will not alter it, so instead of trying to alter reality you better get used to living with it. Now what does living with reality entails?
a) Lower living standards than potentially somone would otherwise enjoy
b) less trade as the article above indicates
c) becoming a rule taker instead of a rule maker
d) et. etc.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 1:00 PM CET

Richard O

So what happens with digital products? How do you determine the domestically produced content of online services, is it where the software was written, where it is hosted, where it is billed from, where the user is? What if there are other online services embedded in the overall service, and what contribution do they make?

Digital products and services make up around 12% of GDP and growing.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 1:13 PM CET

tpk

@Petter B.
“I suppose this means the UK is having to start making car parts (and other products) domestically in stead of importing it all.”

Very unlikely. First it’s as easy as replicating/moving the City to Paris. Second UK producers of parts would have problems exporting to EU or elsewhere and the UK market is too small. Anyway it would take years, what to do in the meantime?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 1:31 PM CET

Antoine

While the children are at it…a few facts:
– EU is less protectionist and more free trade than most other large areas/countries in the world (definitely more than US, China,India,…) . This requires regulations, etc.. to ensure level playing field…
– UK leaving the single market/ customs union for an FTA would mean UK would factually be very much less free trade (here is one example, but the list is long…)
– It would also mean many industry/agricultural/services sectors would suffer very much …irrespective of the terms of the FTA (as is demonstrated by this article)

On the other hand, if UK Brexits but stays in an adequate single market/customs union relation (to be carefully defined, devil in the detail), it could escape 15000 EU laws out of 20000 …while of the other 5000 they would have to stick to for trade mainly, a very large proportion are just transcription into law of international/global agreeements which the UK has sovereignly approved and is still supporting (does not want to emulate North Korea right). This would clearly mean that UK is recovering back a large proportion of control and sovereignty (not all but this does not exist if you want to live in an open world).

It is the overwhelming interest of the UK (and the EU) that UK remains close to the EU as suggested, so it would be nice if both parties started to focus on defining a bespoke deal based on Single market/customs union as good neighbours/friends should do. Enormous added advantage would be to avoid bankrupting Ireland/Northern Ireland and getting back to big troubles.
It is time to stop messing around and getting serious. What stops UK so far is money: they have a rebate within the EU and don’t have one in EEA/EFTA… hence they want FTA but the evidence is damning for FTA…so they should try an get a rebate for EEA EFTA which I believe EU may (reluctantly) consider given they would be relieved this is better for both parties than hard Brexit.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 2:58 PM CET

Hamster

“In consequence, British manufacturers could be forced to import fewer parts from abroad, even though the foreign components would often be cheaper and of higher quality.”

Or you could say that the new factories set up in Britain will be, well, newer, and therefore likely to be state of the art. It’s components would therefore be likely to be cheaper per piece and of higher quality. Also transportation distances would be reduced, giving more reliability.

Also, quoting Sam Lowe, Politico? Really? Have some standards.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 3:24 PM CET

Antoine

@Daphne
UK is sovereign state and will choose what it wants even shooting itself in the foot. I respect this.
This article is another demonstration that it is UK interest not to go for a FTA as the cost would be very high (unemployment,…).
This is why I was suggesting bespoke Single market/custom union which would give back to UK most control and sovereignty it decided to take back while protecting its citizens against a massive economic crisis. Remaining shared regulations were defined and approved by UK and are necessary for trade with both EU and rest of World.
My children work and live in the UK so I care a lot. (and I believe I understand more than Boris based on his yesterday and past utterances).

Posted on 2/15/18 | 3:30 PM CET

HH

@tpk
“…it’s as easy as replicating/moving the City to Paris…”

If you believe that you are either delusional or just plain stupid. A capital market such as London takes decades to develop.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 3:43 PM CET

Antoine

Daphne
Let’s agree to disagree.
May I suggest you visit eureferendum.com. It is a brexiter’s site which has existed for many mane years supporting Brexit. It has developed an understanding and, while I don’t agree with everything in there, I find it educative and useful to build an understanding.
The World is a strange place and a better understanding can lead to avoiding mistakes and, anyway, get closer to understanding the consequences of possible choices.
Then, make up your opinions …
I am now convinced it will be easier and better for UK to develop its trade from within a EEA/EFTA type deal while recovering most of what sovereignty can be saved in an open world.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 3:45 PM CET

Saintixe

@xyc

as long as Vauxhalls are these dreadful cars, who cares if they are PSA owned.

They could be owned by Cartier or Christian Dior; they would remain appalling.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 4:06 PM CET

THOMAS L WILSON

Why is this problem appearing only now? Doesn’t the UK have civil servants who check on these rules? The UK has less than 1 year to prepare for their exit from the UK.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 4:22 PM CET

MLB

It is only in the UK it’s called Vauxhall.

it’s manufactured by Opel and re-branded as Vauxhall in the UK.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 4:54 PM CET

HH

@MLB

“it’s manufactured by Opel and re-branded as Vauxhall in the UK.”

Not quite correct. Vauxhall commercial vehicles are manufactured in Luton and passenger cars in Ellesmere Port. Vauxhall has been the second-largest-selling car brand in the UK for more than two decades. The Astra and Insignia cars are extremely popular, as is the Vivaro range of vans, for example.

@Saintixe

“as long as Vauxhalls are these dreadful cars, who cares if they are PSA owned.”

A typically snide comment as one has come to expect from you. Inaccurate as well – see above.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 5:19 PM CET

Peter G

Ooh somebody noticed that did they? How nice. But did they notice that the key demand of the US in renegotiating NAFTA is much tougher rules of origin in the manufacturing sector?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 6:09 PM CET

ed roomtax

Whenever the Ingerlish have a choice, their default mode is SNAFU. They make a mess then wait for someone else [up to now the EU] to clean it up. The only thing to help them limp along is that having created the gigantic SNAFU of brexit, they are now predictably making a SNAFU of the SNAFU.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 6:20 PM CET

bluebell

Flannel, flannel everywhere in Politico we look for truth but ’tis merely gossip that is told
We post and post but they are dross and think that they are gold.

A pox, a pox on all their houses BoJo cries to May
But in the Brussels den they do not care what it is that he has to say

Flannel, flannel everywhere Oh! that the UK made so bold
And the EU asks itself can it maintain its stranglehold?

Liam Fox wanders o’er the world he wants an FTA
But will the others come out to play or will they look away?

Flannel, flannel everywhere the Tories hath a rumpus stirred
They asked the people to have their say and this is what was heard

Some said yeah and some said nay and now we wonder who will win the day
And all the voters they do moan “When will this Brexit business be done and gone away”?

Flannel, flannel everywhere in circles far and wide
Will the UK to freedom walk or will Brexit be merely set aside?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 6:32 PM CET

Finn

@ Politico,

Please moderate. Trolls using other peoples screen names. Thank you.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 6:56 PM CET

bluebell

@ed roomtax
“Whenever the Ingerlish have a choice, their default mode is SNAFU. They make a mess then wait for someone else [up to now the EU] to clean it up. The only thing to help them limp along is that having created the gigantic SNAFU of brexit, they are now predictably making a SNAFU of the SNAFU.”

bluebell

Nice to know we have an escape route from Brexit. Will you book our tickets or shall I? Do you think we could take the donkey with us?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 7:45 PM CET

bluebell

@Juan
Excellent. It is a pity we will miss the flowering of suikerbos but hopefully we will experience what they represent. I will leave the braai to you while I feed the donkey.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:13 PM CET

bluebell

@Juan
Do you think the rubber bands will last long enough for a return trip?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:41 PM CET

bluebell

@Juan
Should I pack light or should I bring along my hope chest?

Posted on 2/15/18 | 8:46 PM CET

bluebell

@Juan
Sounds good so long as it is not an excuse to spy on Nora Batty and her wrinkly stockings!

Posted on 2/15/18 | 9:30 PM CET

xyc

Hamster – Re “In consequence, British manufacturers could be forced to import fewer parts from abroad, even though the foreign components would often be cheaper and of higher quality.”

Or you could say that the new factories set up in Britain will be, well, newer, and therefore likely to be state of the art. It’s components would therefore be likely to be cheaper per piece and of higher quality. Also transportation distances would be reduced, giving more reliability.”

Gosh, who knew it was that simple, eh?!. There simply isn’t the scale for your approach to be viable I’m afraid.

Posted on 2/15/18 | 11:02 PM CET

yospit64

UK screwed it up and the suffering will start soon! They will not be able to pull any significant deals with the EU, and UK will start looking like a third world country sooner than later!

Posted on 2/15/18 | 11:04 PM CET

Hamster

@xyc
“Or you could say that the new factories set up in Britain will be, well, newer, and therefore likely to be state of the art. It’s components would therefore be likely to be cheaper per piece and of higher quality. Also transportation distances would be reduced, giving more reliability.”

Gosh, who knew it was that simple, eh?!. There simply isn’t the scale for your approach to be viable I’m afraid.”

We had basically national supply chains for cars before we joined the EEC, and we made rather more cars then — our record year for car manufacturing is still 1972. (Wonder what changed after 1972.)

In the future cars are likely to be simpler than they have been — electric cars require fewer parts — and 3D printing is likely to be able to provide an increasing range of parts, requiring fewer specialist machines in the supply chain.

Posted on 2/16/18 | 12:27 AM CET

Drunker

Thanks to all eurotrolls for today, you may clock-out now. Don’t forget to collect your 20 euros on your way out (Priscilla you get 30). See you tomorrow morning. Drunker

Posted on 2/16/18 | 1:30 AM CET

Priscilla du Bleu

@THOMAS L WILSON
“Why is this problem appearing only now? Doesn’t the UK have civil servants who check on these rules? The UK has less than 1 year to prepare for their exit from the UK.”

This problem certainly has since long been known to the insiders who deal with the matter in depth. Only those too shortsighted or too din to understand tried to pray it away 😀

Should you tire of the resident trolls’ utter rubbish – there will be an alternative for discussing from the weekend onwards.

Posted on 2/16/18 | 5:50 AM CET

wow

@Priscilla too DIM

Why would we in UK sort out all the EU’s customs coming IN? It benefits us especially as the UK has a trade deficit. Nice to know our UK exports to EU will all be fine! Cheers haha…

CLUE: JAPAN/france trade wars in 1982. This was when France decided it was going to be ‘the new tokyo’ of course now france is going to be ‘the new london’ hahaha!! Maybe france will one day be the ‘new paris’ and stop all it’s nonsense! Paris is great already.

ESSAY – THE BATTLE OF POITIERS – The New York Times
22 Nov 1982 – The Second Battle of Poitiers is now being fought. France’s Socialist Government, determined to protect the video tape recording market from the invading Japanese, selected Poitiers to be the customs bottleneck. In that small town, tens of thousands of video tape recorders built in Japan and avidly sought by French customers are currently stacking up in warehouses. A handful of customs inspectors, hand-picked for slowness, has cut the clearances from 100,000 per month down to 8,000. An anguished Japanese exporter, Hitachi, has taken a full page advertisement to plead: ”We are not Saracens.”

Thus the French Socialists play hardball foreign trade. They are out to replace ”Japan, Inc.” with ”France, Inc.” The Socialist idea was to select certain industries for government aid …Now the French binge has led to a sober second thought and a huge hangover afflicts the nation. The trade balance is deeply in the red. Only two years ago, the franc used to be worth an American quarter – soon, after an expected third devaluation, the franc will hardly be worth much more than a dime.’

Cheerio Now!

Posted on 2/16/18 | 10:44 AM CET

wow

*Priscilla

‘honey’ those 6 lanes of customs traffiic just get moved to three lanes for UK goods going OUT and one for EU good coming in and two for International goods coming in.

Get it?

Hahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

Posted on 2/16/18 | 10:55 AM CET

wow

@Priscilla

AND these 3 lanes UK goods going OUT I mean young and educated Britons leaving the country for EU countries.

The goods are going out, us bads are remaining.

Posted on 2/16/18 | 12:13 PM CET

wow

@FAKEWOW = priscilla

BLESS!! nothing to say. Just trolling again under someone else’s name!

Go back to sleep ‘honey’

Posted on 2/16/18 | 7:08 PM CET

MingBaakMei

“…These “rules of origin” are meant to stop Vietnam, for example, simply re-exporting cheap Chinese goods into the EU..”
The problem with that comment is it is cheaper to produce in Vietnam than it is in China!!

Posted on 2/18/18 | 6:22 AM CET

hhaa

made in britain = make up lies

Posted on 2/18/18 | 8:29 AM CET

georgi423523

GE0RG1 FED , ECB , UK 1. THE DOLLAR DEVALUATES FAST DUE TO ILLEGAL USA MONEY PRINTING , EVIDENCE FOR EXUBERANCE FOR DOLLAR VALUE , AND INCREASING US INFLATION FAST – USA , EU HOLD BY 1.5 TRILLIONS IN SAFES THAT WILL MULTIPLY IN BANKS SOON WHEN TAKEN OUT NOT TO DEVALUATE . FED MAY CHEAT DOWN THE INFLATION TO MANIPULATE BONDS AND STOCK PRICES. INVESTIGATE HOW USA CPI IS MANIPULATED START FROM shadowstats SITE FOR EXAMPLE. FED , ECB , UK STRATEGY FOR HYPERINFLATION FOR FAST SHARE BUBBLE AND FAKE POLITICIANS . USD DOLLAR DECLINES FAST TO 3 YEAR LOW DXY SHOWS WITH RETURNED RESERVES AND THERE IS A LOT OF NOISE IN USA AND WORLD. SEE HOW USD TERM IN GOOGLE TRENDS SEARCHES JUMP IN THE WORLD FROM 100 MILLION TO SOME 130 MILLION IN DECEMBER AND A THIRD ALSO IN USA PER DAY. ALSO OUT OF BITCOIN SEARCHERS SOME 400 MILLIONS IN WORLD PER DAY IN DECEMBER 2017 SOME 35 MILLION SEARCH DOLLAR AS WELL. COMMODITIES PRICES ALSO INCREASE FAST AT 2017 END AS COPPER INCREASES 28 % YEARLY, COTTON , PETROLEUM SOME 22% LAST 3 MONTHS THAT IS SOME 1% ADDITIONAL INFLATION FOR USA BY IMF , FED ESTIMATIONS. USA AND EU , UK HAVE JUST DECIDED THESE DAYS ,WITH THE CLEAR UNDERSTANDING THEY CREATE HYPERINFLATION , TO PRINT ILLEGALLY MONEY AS MUCH AS NECESSARY TO SEE IN LAST ATTEMPT IF THEY CAN SEND THEIR SOCIETIES IN IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE AND SELL THEM ALL THE OVER EVALUATED SHARES THE RICH HOLD TODAY. The main politicians and central bankers in USA, UK , DE , FR are with some 30 % approval vs 50 % disapproval or are afraid to take posts in DE as capital holders and scientist rule behind them to steal money with inflation for the coming recession. In USA and EU there is by some half trillion illegally printed money already and by some another trillion in safes from QE . That is equal to half M1 for USA and money may multiply to half M2 so some 50 % hyperinflation is expected by now , while money will start to multiply with inflation as when money de valuate it is nice to have loans if not indexed properly interest rates. Now USA EU people hold in safes more then the liquid money in FED , ECB and their banks , so the people are the real central bank in this situation. With 2 , 3 % inflation people will prefer soon to spend the money from safes not lose the inflation and this will accelerate suddenly and sharp the inflation. FED and ECB should be careful, not reckless in such circumstances. The organized crime of rich USA and EU will print first just enough to steal your money but latter will have to cover by some 2 trillions in health , 2 trillions in pensions and 2 trillions housing losses next years so here later printing is expected as well. The high sovereign, private bonds and debts and currency reserves will be devaluated . When the currency reserves are over soon the USD and EUR will decline in currency crisis, similar to the pound. The shares are supported with illegally printed money for some year by now so the devaluation of the dollar and EUR and pound will continue and inflation will follow soon so check alone price basket. What will follow in the economy of USA and EU is similar scenario to the end of Solviet union with change of economic system with strong inflation that leads to disruption of economy. Ask the mentioned by me policymakers in other posts and FED and ECB , UK officials the raised here questions as who is behind them to be so unpopular, is the only choice they have right now to inflate the USA , EU , UK economies substantially to see if irrational exuberance is possible when growth , profits data are falsified and social indicators as debt , inequality ,demography, obesity, social support and many other show clear deep crisis in western societies the same questions for USA, DE, FR, UK, IT , ES premiers. Ask if money are printed illegally and provided straight to USA , EU , UK banks to bail them out and buy shares to prop the prices on people account ? . . . currency crises for bubble… with the illegally printed money to prop the share market for a bubble fed provided a lot of liquidity on the market that is kept in jars. That liquid money reduce the price of the dollar and create avalanche effects of returned currency reserves. Last one two months fed continues to printing money to intervene on stock exchange , but also spends the currency reserves hold by the commercial and fed banks to hold the price of dollar stable for a while. The criminal policy of ECB is similar. There is also increase in inflation in US and EU for this reason though the growth is manipulated data to stop outflow of deposits in EU seen in Target 2 loans among eu countries with this bluff , while usa Is bluffing growth for stock exchange bubble correlated news. When the truth is revealed the money from the jars that may be by trillion for eu and usa only from the quantitative easing will be added as liquidity to new illegally printed money straight donated to banks by you public to create inflation. This policy usually ends with hyperinflation as currency crises as social costs cannot be postponed and money will be printed to cover them. Follow eu , uk for similar story not to be happening there for printed money for a bubble that create inflation and reduce currency on your account.

Posted on 2/18/18 | 11:46 AM CET

Gyges

Re-hashed opinion from last week.

Posted on 2/18/18 | 2:59 PM CET

Herman ze German

Priscilla. My web page is overdue. When are you going to finish it. I will wait until you finish your night shift @Aldi.

Posted on 2/18/18 | 5:48 PM CET

That's alright

Herman ze German
Priscilla. My web page is overdue. When are you going to finish it. I will wait until you finish your night shift @Aldi.

Overdue? Who has set a deadline? You, Jack Boot? OK. you have more time since you’re even underqualified for stacking shelves at ALDI’s, mentals are not welcome there, and you don’t go abroad for weekends .-D

PS the blog is up and running. simply register. I did and was approved. 🙂

Posted on 2/18/18 | 7:13 PM CET

Jack Boot

@That’s alright

And you make far too many assumptions.

Posted on 2/19/18 | 7:47 AM CET

Steve Page

You really are clueless as a partisan left wing, pro Eu propaganda outlet aren’t you? Isn’t it obvious to you that this is actually a huge incentive for British manufacturing? The same manufacturing that has had such a boost since June ‘16?
The Tories have already earmarked huge sums for engineering R&D post Brexit along with boosting post-industrial services.

Posted on 2/19/18 | 10:16 AM CET

Stein Holst

It is plain for all to see that the UK has taken the higher moral ground and that the EU are desperate only for money.